Granted, Bryant’s retirement announcement was not really news. A pledge that he would play in 2016-17 would have been more shocking, if not terrifying.

And Bryant will not give it up until the end of the season, which means he can get in most of his farewell tour. It might be significant that Bryant made this call before his final trip to Philadelphia on Tuesday, the closest thing he had to an American home before L.A. That game was already circled because the 76ers actually envision a win, but now he can get the goodbye he deserves.

This also gives us time to truly assess and savor Bryant’s 20-year career, which includes five championships and a primal appeal that other, better Lakers never really prompted.

Those who were there will never forget Bryant’s L.A. Summer League debut at the Long Beach State Pyramid, when he was a jagged lightning bolt every time he got the ball. Nobody could get in front of him. Nobody could strip the ball. Coach Del Harris and general manager Jerry West were ecstatic – at that time, it was still a brazen thing to draft a high school player. And Bryant was in fact humble, referring to a visiting Philadelphia journalist as “Mr. Smallwood,” promising to fit in.

The Lakers have a lot of banners because he broke that promise.

But if you were planning to take your kid to Staples Center this winter so you could both say you saw Kobe Bryant, save your money. This has been as painful as listening to Michael McDonald try to sing.

Bryant’s shooting has been an exercise in blank verse. Going into Sunday, he was shooting 30.5 percent from the floor. It’s difficult to be the mentor when you can’t show how it’s done, and particularly when you’re consuming the lab time that the pupil needs.

It will not help D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson to learn how to play with, or around, Kobe, particularly when Bryant is averaging 16.4 field goal attempts and 31.9 minutes per game.

Had Bryant receded into the “glue” role, and had used his vast savvy to pick and pass and space the floor, maybe he could have helped the Lakers. But that’s not in his bloodstream.

It’s also irrelevant because Bryant can’t guard people anymore, and coach Byron Scott has determined that defense is the quickest way out of hell, at least for as long as he’s around.

There is nightly uncertainty over how much Bryant will play and whether, in fact, he will play. That affects preparation and makes the whole season an exhibition.

This league is cruel to a rookie, especially a frustrated rookie on a bad team, as Jahlil Okafor seems to be demonstrating. Russell was the No. 2 choice in the draft. His development is more important than designing Kobe’s rocking chair.

Bryant at least is retiring with the same uniform he wore on Day One. Michael Jordan wound up with Washington, Joe Montana with Kansas City, Willie Mays with the Mets, Emmitt Smith with the Cardinals. Only Montana came close to making it work, and Oscar Robertson went to Milwaukee so he could finally win a title with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

But fans will always examine the $48.5 million, two-year extension that takes Bryant to this point. This came after he ripped his Achilles near the end of what was an extremely productive 2013-14. Even U.S. national soccer coach Jurgen Klinsmann criticized it, saying that it happens “only in America” and asking, “How do you pay somebody for something that already happened?”

Most of the history of free agency, in all sports, supports Klinsmann. The Lakers would be much further along if they had given Bryant a laurel and hearty handshake and sent him to wherever, and then withstood the civic tantrum.

Instead, Bryant stuck around. And the Lakers continue to sell out every game. It’s not because of Brandon Bass.

The rest of this season will be a parade of losses and trinkets, blowouts and tributes, while we thank Kobe Bryant from our hearts, and keep glancing at our watches.

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